Department of Translation and Language Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Roc Boronat, 138, 08018 Barcelona, Spain.
Department of Translation and Language Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Roc Boronat, 138, 08018 Barcelona, Spain; Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Passeig Lluís Companys, 23, 08010 Barcelona, Spain.
Cognition. 2022 Sep;226:105179. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105179. Epub 2022 Jun 11.
Lexical ambiguity is pervasive in language, and often systematic. For instance, the Spanish word dedo can refer to a toe or a finger, that is, these two meanings colexify in Spanish; and they do so as well in over one hundred other languages. Previous work shows that related meanings are more likely to colexify. This is attributed to cognitive pressure towards simplicity in language, as it makes lexicons easier to learn and use. The present study examines the interplay between this pressure and the competing pressure for languages to support accurate information transfer. We hypothesize that colexification follows a Goldilocks principle that balances the two pressures: meanings are more likely to attach to the same word when they are related to an optimal degree-neither too much, nor too little. We find support for this principle in data from over 1200 languages and 1400 meanings. Our results thus suggest that universal forces shape the lexicons of natural languages. More broadly, they contribute to the growing body of evidence suggesting that languages evolve to strike a balance between competing functional and cognitive pressures.
词汇歧义在语言中普遍存在，而且通常具有系统性。例如，西班牙语单词 dedo 可以指脚趾或手指，也就是说，这两个意思在西班牙语中是同形异义词；而且在其他一百多种语言中也是如此。先前的研究表明，相关的意思更有可能同形异义词化。这归因于语言在认知上对简单性的压力，因为它使词汇更容易学习和使用。本研究考察了这种压力与语言支持准确信息传递的竞争压力之间的相互作用。我们假设，同形异义词化遵循一个 Goldilocks 原则，即平衡这两种压力：当意义与最佳程度相关时——既不过多，也不过少——它们更有可能附着在同一个词上。我们从 1200 多种语言和 1400 多个意义的数据中找到了对这一原则的支持。因此，我们的研究结果表明，普遍的力量塑造了自然语言的词汇。更广泛地说，它们有助于越来越多的证据表明，语言的进化是为了在竞争的功能和认知压力之间取得平衡。
